Alexander (Final Fantasy VIII)
Alexander is a Holy-elemental Guardian Force in Final Fantasy VIII and one of the very few Holy attacks at the player's disposal. It has only one stat junction ability, but learns elemental attack and defense, including the useful Elemental Defense x4. It learns support abilities that boost Spirit. It is the only GF to learn Revive naturally, which is a command ability that fully restores a target from KO or instantly kills undead targets, and Med Data, which doubles the potency of recovery items when used by the junctioner. Its unique abilities let one make third tier magic spells and improved versions of recovery items. The latter is needed to get the GF Doomtrain. Profile Alexander is a big fortress-like robot that towers over enemies and shoots white laser beams at them. Obtained Alexander is drawn from Edea in Galbadia Garden or, if missed, from Catoblepas in the final dungeon. If missed on both opportunities, Alexander cannot be obtained in that playthrough. Obtaining Alexander in the Steam version earns the player the achievement Alexander. Battle Alexander's attack, Holy Judgment, is a Holy-elemental attack that damages all enemies. Alexander's summon time is 22.1s, which, according to the Final Fantasy VIII Ultimania, allows the player to boost its damage to around 230% of normal damage using a regular PlayStation controller. Its damage is calculated as follows:[http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps/197343-final-fantasy-viii/faqs/58936 Final Fantasy VIII Battle Mechanics FAQ] : Damage = 63 * Level / 10 + 48 + 20 : Damage = Damage * (265 - TargetSpr) / 8 : Damage = Damage * 48 / 256 : Damage = Damage * Boost / 100 : Damage = Damage * (100 + SummonMagBonus) / 100 : Damage = Damage * (900 - ElemDef) / 100: Elemental Defense starts at 800 (0%), 900 nullifies damage and 1000 absorbs it. If an enemy is shown to be weak against an element, its Elemental Defense is below 800. If damage becomes negative (due to high Elemental Defense), the target is healed by that amount. Compatibility The charge time for summoning depends on the compatibility between the character and the GF and the Battle Speed. The greater the compatibility, the less time it takes to summon. Compatibility can be boosted with compatibility boosting items, by casting magic that is the same element as the Guardian Force (also life magic in Alexander's case) and by summoning the GF during battle. There is only one spell that deducts from Alexander's compatibility when used: Bio. In this vein, Alexander's opposite GF is Doomtrain, whose summoning deducts from Alexander's compatibility the most. The below values are the base compatibility values with all playable characters at the start of the game. Even if Seifer cannot junction Alexander in a normal playthrough, a default compatibility value still exists for him. Stats The following table represents the base stats: Abilities Abilities learned naturally by Alexander are listed below: Triple Triad The player must lose the Alexander card to the Queen of Cards as part of her sidequest to become able to win the Doomtrain card from the pub owner in Timber. Alexander card is the only Holy-elemental Triple Triad card. Other appearances Dissidia Final Fantasy (2008) Alexander is a summon that temporarily locks the user's Bravery preventing any change. Its manual version is a colored version of his Final Fantasy VIII artwork, found in the second stage of Destiny Odyssey IX. Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy Alexander returns as a summonstone, with the same function as in Dissidia. The manual version can be purchased from certain Moogle Shops for 50 KP. ''Final Fantasy Artniks Though dubbed as the ''Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy version, the artwork on the card is Alexander from Final Fantasy VIII. ''Mobius Final Fantasy Final Fantasy Trading Card Game Though dubbed as the ''Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy version, the artwork on the card is Alexander from Final Fantasy VIII. The card is Wind-elemental rather than Holy-elemental. Gallery Alexander artwork.jpg|Artwork by Tetsuya Nomura. Alexander FFVIII Alternate Art.jpg|Alternate artwork by Tetsuya Nomura. Alexander FFVIII Portrait Art.jpg|Portrait artwork. Alexander-FFVIII-Creatures-Kai-Vol5.png|Final Fantasy Creatures Kai Vol.5. Etymology References Category:Guardian Forces in Final Fantasy VIII